Plum Island – 8/25/19

Plum Island – 8/25/19

Plum Island (please use more refined location), Essex, Massachusetts, US

Aug 25, 2019 8:12 AM – 1:32 PM

Comments: BBC – Plum Island – Leader: Neil Hayward

57 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose 30

Blue-winged Teal 3

Gadwall 2

Mallard 50

American Black Duck 3

Green-winged Teal 3

Common Eider 4

Wild Turkey 6

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 5

Mourning Dove 1

American Avocet 1 Continuing at Bill Forward pool. Seen from dike.

Black-bellied Plover 10

Semipalmated Plover 365

Common Ringed/Semipalmated Plover 1 Pans, feeding with flock of SEPLs. Thick breast band, especially at sides of breast, and thick across front of breast. Hint of eye-ring, but for the most part dark / lacking. Black on face meets bill at the gape, and not just above gape as in SEPL (the most reliable field-mark I’ve used in AK for separating the two). I’m hesitant to call this CRPL as: bill is not particularly long, and neither is the supercilium very bold. I didn’t notice any obvious difference in size between this bird and others. Silent and no observation of feet. Poor digiscoped pics.

Piping Plover 6

Killdeer 1

Sanderling 8

Baird’s Sandpiper 1

Least Sandpiper 13

White-rumped Sandpiper 17

Semipalmated Sandpiper 275

Western Sandpiper 4 At pans. At least 4, perhaps 5. All that I saw had rufous on scapulars but not on head. Larger size and longer bill than nearby Semipalmated Sandpipers.